Impulse-transmitting device



J. C. FIELD.

IMPULSE TRANSMITTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 19. 1917.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920.

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.I. C. FIELD.

IMPULSE TRANSMITTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 19. 1917.

1,354,314, Patented Oct. 5,1920.

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I. C'. FIELD. IMPULSE TRANSMITTING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JULY I9. I917.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920.

Joseph Orange, in the county of erated to transmit any one of a UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH C, FIELD, OF ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO WESTERN ELECTRIC COM- PANY, INCORPORATED, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

IMPULSE-TRANSMITTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920.

Application filed July 19, 1917. Serial No. 131588.

T 0 all whomit may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH C. FIELD, a citizen of the United States, residin at Essex and tate of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Impulse-Transmitting Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

This invention relates to impulse transmitting devices for selective signaling systems of the class in which a plurality of selectively operated circuit controlling devices are connected with and are operable over the same line circuit.

The impulse transmitting device of this invention is designed more particularly for use in connection with a system employing selectors such as are shown and described in a copending application to Joseph C. Field, filed May 18, 1916, Serial No. 98,384. In this application there is disclosed a selective circuit controlling device in which a stepby-step element is advanced by a stepping pawl one complete step in response to each, half cycle of alternating current through a polarized stepping magnet. The step-by-step element is advanced to its circuit controlling position through different stages of movements and is mechanically held at the end of the different stages during a period exceeding the length of the im pulses. Each selective device onthe same line is made responsive to a different combination of impulses. Each circuit controlling device may control a plurality of separate circuits.

It is the general object of this invention to provide a universal or master impulse transmitting device simple in structure and operation which may be quickly set and opplurality of combinations of impulses.

In accordance with the general. features of this invention, a rotatable impulse wheel cooperating with impulse springs in an impulse sending circuit is adapted to be driven intermittently by the rotation of a main driving shaft to cause the closure and opening of the contact springs in accordance with a predetermined code. The intermittent driving of the impulse wheel from the main driving shaft is accomplished by mechanism which automatically brings about the connection and disconnection of the impulse wheel from the main drivmg shaft during one complete revolution of said shaft. The

connection governing means are adjustable so that the periods of rotation and non-rotation of said impulse wheel may be varied in any desired relation, and so that the impulse springs may be held either in a closed view taken upon line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3

is a cross-sectional view taken upon line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4. is a detail cross-sectional view of parts of the device taken upon line 4-4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken upon line 5-5 of Fig. l; and Fig. 6 is a circuit diagram of a selective signaling system with which the device of this invention may be operated.

As shown in the drawings, 5 and 6 designate contact springs adapted to be intermittently closed together and separated through the action of a spring arm 7 operated upon by teeth 8, 8 of a toothed wheel 9, as clearly indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. The toothed wheel 9 together with a ratchet wheel 10 are carried by a sleeve 11 which is loosely mounted upon a shaft 12. The shaft 12 is rotatably supported by frame member 13 and a collar 33 inserted in frame member 14 is adapted to be rotated in one direction by a spring 15 acting directly thereon. The spring 15 is connected at one end to a stud 60 while the other end is secured to a hub 61 which in turn is keyed to the shaft 12. A pawl 16 pivotally mounted upon an arm 17 of a sleeve 18 secured to the shaft 12 is adapted under certain conditions to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 10 to rotate the sleeve 11 and the toothed wheel 9 to cause the operation of the contact springs 5 and 6.

In order to obtain a given code or combination of impulses through the closure and opening of the springs 5 and 6, it is only necessary to provide some means whereby in the rotation of the shaft 12, the pawl 16 will be eflective to engage the ratchet wheel 10 only at certain periods during one complete revolution of the shaft 12. This may be accomplished by providing adjustable means for lifting said pawl 16 from engage-- ment withthe ratchet wheel 10 at desired periods and, in this invention, it is accom plished as follows.

The pawl 16 has projecting through it a pin 20, the ends 21 and 22 of which project some distance beyond said pawl. In the normal position of the pawl 16, the end 21 of the pin 20 rests upon a plate 23 secured to the frame member 14, and holds said pawl 16 out of engagement with the ratchet Wheel 10. Mounted concentrically with respect to the shaft 12 and adapted to be rotated independently thereof, are segmental disks 30, 31 and 32, the disk 30 being rotatably mounted upon the sleeve 11 and the disks 31 and 32 being rotatably mounted upon a collar 33 at one end of the shaft 12.

The segmental disk 30 is provided with a cam surface 36, over which the end 22 of the pin 20 is adapted to ride in the rotation of the shaft 12 to raise the pawl 16 from en gagement with the ratchet wheel 10, thereby rendering the toothed wheel 9 idle during a period of the rotation of the shaft 12. Teeth 46, 46 provided upon a portion of the disk 30 are adapted to be engaged by a spring-holding member 37 secured to a base 94 of the frame. The tension of the springholding member 37 is sufiicient to prevent the disk 30 being turned by the rotation of the sleeve 11 but permits said disk to be easily turned by means of a projecting finger 38, extending through a slot 39 in a casing 40. The segmental disk 31 is provided with a projecting cam surface 41 over which the end 21 of the pin 20 is adapted to ride to disengage the pawl 16 from the ratchet Wheel 10 during a period of the revolution of the shaft 12; The disk 31 is provided with teeth 42, 42 which are adapted to be engaged by a spring-holding member 43 similar to the spring-holding member 37 cooperating with the disk 30. A finger 44 formed upon the disk 31 projects through a slot 45 in the casing 40 to permit of the adjustment of thedisk. The teeth 46, 46 of the disk 30 and the teeth 42, 42 of the disk 31 are of such a pitch that'a one-stepmovement of either of these disks controls one closure or one opening of the contact springs 5 and 6.

The segmental disk 32 is provided with a projecting cam surface 50 which is adapted to beengaged by the end 21 of the pin 20 to disengage the pawl 16 from the teeth of the ratchet wheel 10 at a given period in the rotation of the shaft 12 after said pin has passed the camsurface 41 of the disk 31. The disk 32 is also provided with teeth 51, 51 adapted to co6perate with a spring-holding member 52 similar to the spring-holding members 43 and 37 but the teeth 51, 51 of wheel 67.

said disk 32 are of such pitch that a one step movement of the disk will control one closure and one opening of the contact springs 5 and 6. A finger formed upon the segmental disk 32 projects through a slot 54 in the casing 40 to permit the adj ustment of the disk.

Secured to the shaft 12 is a pinion 62 adapted to be engaged by a segmental gear 63, controlled by a handle 64 to wind the sprin- 15. In unwinding, the spring 15 acts t rough a pawl 65 and ratchet 66 to drive a gear wheel 67 which is secured to the shaft 12, thereby rotating said shaft. The gear wheel 67 acts through a pinion 68, a gear wheel 69 and a pinion 70 to drive a governor 71. The gear wheel 67 is normally held against rotation by means of a spring-operated pawl 72 which normally en gages a notch 73 in a flange 7 4 on the gear A projection 75 011 the pawl 72 is adapted to be engaged by a pin 76 carried by the segmental gear 63 to release said pawl 72 from the notch 73 at the end of the winding movement of the handle 64; At the end of one complete revolution, the pawl 72 will again engage the notch 73 to stop the rotation of the shaft 12.

A spring-contact member 80 mounted in the same pile up as the contact springs 5 and 6 and the spring arm 7, 1s provided at its free end with a double offset portion 31 adapted to engage the tops of the teeth 3, 8

and also between the teeth 8, 8 in the rotation of the toothed wheel to retain'the toothed wheel 9 against rotation when it is not locked to the shaft 12. A projecting pin 82 carried by a collar 47 on the shaft 12 is provided on its lower end with an insulating knob 83, which normally engages a projection 84 on the spring 80 to hold it out of engagement with teeth 8, 3 of the toothed wheel 9.

Briefly the operation of the transmitting device of this invention is as follows: reference being made to Fig. 6 in which it is illustrated in connection with a selective signaling system.

Assuming that the first selector 90 of the two selectors shown in the circuits of Fig. 6 is the one to be operated and that the code of impulsesby means of which it is operated to its first circuit closing position is three impulses, a pause, seven impulses, a pause and'seven more impulses. The mental cam disks 30, 31 and 32 will be so adjusted that when the shaft 12 is made to rotate the pawl 16 will, after the end 21 of the pin 20 thereon passes off of the stationary cam 23, engage the ratchet wheel 10.

to turn it and the toothed wheel 9- a sufficient distance to cause three impulses to be sent over line wires 91 and 92 through the operation of a pole-changing relay 93 before the end 21 of the pin 20 rides over the cam surface 41 of the disk 31 and thereby disengages said pawl 16 from the ratchet wheel 10. As the end 21 of the pin 2( passes from engagement with the cam surface 41 the pawl 16 will again engage the ratchet wheel 10 to rotate the impulse wheel until seven impulses have been sent over the line wires 91 and 92, at the end of which time the end 22 of the pin 20 will ride upon the cam surface 36 of the segmental disk 80, thereby disengaging the pawl 16 from the ratchet wheel 10 to stop the rotation of the toothed impulse wheel 9. As the shaft 12 continues to rotate, carrying the pawl 16 with it, the end 22 of the pin 20 will be disengaged from the cam surface 36 of disk 30 and the pawl 16 will. reengage the ratchet wheel 10 to again rotate the impulse wheel 9 to cause seven more impulses to be sent over the line wires 91 and 92, at the end of which period the end 21 of pin 20 will ride upon the cam surface 50 of the segmental disk 32 and from there on to the stationary cam 23. As the end 21 of the pin 20 passes over the cam 23 it will move into and out of engagement with a notch 95 in said cam 23 before reaching its position of rest. As the end 21 of the pin 20 engages this notch 95 the impulse wheel will be moved to send a release impulse over the line wires 91 and 92.'

The spring 80 will be moved into engagement with the impulse wheel 9 at the beginning of the rotation of the shaft 12 to close a circuit through a battery supply relay 96 and will remain in engagement therewith until the end of the rotation of the shaft 12, when it will be disengaged therefrom by the pin 82, thereby opening the circuit of the relay 96.

With the above described mechanism the impulse wheel 9 may be stopped with the end of the spring arm 7 resting either upon the top of a tooth of the wheel 9 to close contact between springs 5 and 6 or it may be stopped with the end of said spring 7 resting between the two teeth of the wheel 9, thereby breaking contact between springs 5 and 6. Thus it will be seen that at the occurrence of a pause or long interval between the groups .of code impulses the contacts controlling the impulses to line may be open or closed as determined by the positions of cam surfaces 36, 411 and 59 and consequently the last impulse of each group of code impulses will be positive or nega tive, depending upon the position of the transmitter contact springs 5 and 6. Since the total number of impulses in any code used with this system is the same, the above feature makes it possible to use any combination of odd and even impulses desired to make up the total. For example, if fifteen is chosen as the number of code impulses required to close the signaling contact of any selector, the total number of impulses may be arranged in various groups or combinations such as 2211 or 2-4-9 or 27-6, etc., as more fully explained in applicants copending application, Serial No. 98,381, filed May 18, 1916.

' \Vha't is claimed is:

1. In an impulse transmitting device, an impulse wheel, a main driving shaft, a driving connection between said main shaft and said impulse wheel, and adjustable means adapted to render said driving connection alternately effective and ineffective during one complete revolution of said main driving shaft.

2. In an impulse transmitting device, a main driving shaft, an impulse wheel rotatably mounted on said main driving shaft, a ratchet wheel connected with said impulse wheel, a driving pawl for said ratchet wheel carried by said main shaft, and means for moving said pawl into and out of engagement with said ratchet wheel a plurality of times during one complete revolution of said main driving shaft.

3. In an impulse transmitting device, a main driving shaft, an impulse wheel rotatably mounted thereon, a ratchet wheel connected with said impulse wheel, a driving pawl for said ratchet wheel carried by said main driving shaft and adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with said ratchet wheel during the rotation of said main driving shaft, and adjustable means for controlling the periods of engagement and disengagement of said pawl and ratchet wheel during one revolution of said driving shaft.

1. In an impulse transmitting device, a main driving shaft, an impulse wheel rotatably mounted upon said shaft, a ratchet wheel connected with said impulse wheel, a pawl. carried by said main driving shaft, projections extending in opposite directions from said pawl, and adjustable disks having cam surfaces thereon adapted to be engaged by said projections in the rotation of said main shaft to control the engagement and disengagement of said pawl and said ratchet wheel.

5. In an impulse transmitter for signaling systems, an impulse wheel adapted to travel through a plurality of SUCCQSSlVG movements separated by pauses during the transmission of a signal, contact springs controlled by said impulse wheel and means rendered effective during a pause in the movement of said impulse wheel to cause the contact springs to rest in either an open or closed position during such a pause in the movement of said impulse wheel.

6. In an impulse transmitter for signaling systems, an impulse wheel adapted to travel through plurality of successive movements separated by pauses during the transmission of a signal, contact springs, a

spring arm acted upon by the teeth of said impulse Wheel during the rotation thereof to open and close said contact springs, and means rendered effective during a pause in the movement of said impulse Wheel to cause said contact arm to rest either upon a tooth or between teeth during a pause in the movement of said impulse wheel to hold said contact springs closed or open. 10

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 13th day of July,\ A. D. 1917.

JOSEPH C. FIELD. 

